New Canadian immigration system to be called ‘Express Entry’

Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander yesterday announced that Canada’s upcoming active recruitment model for economic immigration will officially be called ‘Express Entry.’

canadian-immigrationSet to launch in January 2015, Express Entry will allow for greater flexibility and better responsiveness to deal with regional labour shortages, and help fill open jobs for which there are no available Canadian workers. Express Entry candidates who receive a valid job offer or nomination under the Provincial Nominee Program(PNP) will be quickly invited to apply for permanent residency – a key distinction between Express Entry and the Temporary Foreign Worker Programme, which is only used to fill temporary labour and skill shortages.

Formerly referred to as ‘Expression of Interest’ – and based on an immigration system already used in Australian and New Zealand – Express Entry will be open to skilled immigrants and allow the government to select the best candidates who are most likely to succeed in Canada, rather than those who happen to be first in line.

It will also prevent backlogs and allow Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to better coordinate application volume with the annual immigration levels plan.

Canadian Immigrant“Express Entry promises to be a game-changer for Canadian immigration and Canada’s economy,” explained Alexander. “It will revolutionise the way we attract skilled immigrants, and get them working here faster. Our government is actively engaged with our provincial and territorial partners, and with employers, to make January’s launch of Express Entry a success,” he added.

Qualified applicants can expect faster processing times of six months or less when invited to come to Canada in four key economic streams: the Federal Skilled Worker Programme, Federal Skilled Trades Programme, Canadian Experience Class, and a portion of the PNP.

Employers will also have a key role in selecting economic immigrants and providing advice to the Government of Canada. To this end, Alexander also announced that over the course of spring 2014, CIC will work with provincial and territorial governments to hold a series of cross-Canada information sessions to provide employers with more information about this exciting new system.

For more Canadian Emigration help, visit www.emigrate2.co.uk/Canada